Akali leader Majithia to face defamation case amid spat with IPS officer

The Punjab government Monday said that it will file a case of intimidation and defamation against Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia, for "threatening" IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh. Punjab Advocate General Atul Nanda said the case will be filed in the court on Tuesday on the directive of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who had instructed the state government's legal team to pursue the matter with the judiciary.

Pratap Singh is a member of the Special Investigating Team (SIT) set up by the Punjab government last year to probe the 2015 sacrilege and the subsequent police firing incidents at Kotakpura and Behbal Kalan wherein two protesters were killed. Amarinder Singh made it clear that he would not tolerate such threats and intimidation of his officers by the Akalis or anyone else.

"The Akali leaders had the habit of browbeating and threatening anyone who dared to go against them," he said, pointing out that they had earlier too used offensive language against Justice Ranjit Singh, who headed the Commission that inquired into sacrilege cases. Amarinder, in a release, said the alleged abusive and threatening language used by Majithia against Pratap Singh in a TV interview showed the desperation of the Akali leaders, given the fact that the IGP was all set to get back into the SIT and resume the probe against into the 2015 sacrilege and police firing incidents.

The Election Commission of India had on April 8 directed the Punjab government to divest Pratap Singh of his charge as inspector general (IG) of police, crime, and the additional charge of Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) for "violating" the model code of conduct. Amarinder Singh alleged that the Akali leaders had tried to scuttle the probe by getting Kunwar Vijay Pratap transferred out of the SIT through the Election Commission, which was acting as a tool of the BJP government at the Centre.

However, realising that they had only managed to gain a few days and would soon be back in the dock, the Akali leaders were clearly getting desperate and resorting to personal attacks and threats, he added. "The IGP will complete his investigations and we will ensure that his findings are taken to their logical conclusion, through the due process of law, to bring the guilty to book," the chief minister said.

The Badals will not escape justice for their acts, the chief minister warned, reiterating that the sacrilege incidents took place under them, and the firing could not have taken place without their knowledge. Amarinder Singh reiterated that the IGP would be back in the SIT, the day after polling concludes in the state to take the case to its logical conclusion.

"If Majithia or anyone thinks they can intimidate any of my officers into backing off, they can think again. I will not let them pressurise or threaten my officers or attack them personally," the Chief Minister said. "That kind of jungle raj prevailed under the Akali rule, it does not under my government," he added.

(With inputs from agencies.)